


Awaken

by o_ver_watch



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-16 19:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11259219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/o_ver_watch/pseuds/o_ver_watch
Summary: Artemis was rescued twice by Overwatch: once as a baby, and again as an adult living on the streets of Venice. With her newfound strength and family, she sets out to help them dismantle Talon. Hanzo Shimada bears witness to her growth, and once she begins to take on more responsibility as well as find out the truth about her upbringing, the two grow closer than they ever thought possible.





	Awaken

The snowy grove stood in solitude as twilight fell. An orange glow was cast over the clouds and onto the trees. Snow-capped mountains could be seen in the distance. “The Alps,” a woman whispered to her child. “Do you see them?”

The small girl, wrapped in old sheets, reached toward them. “Aps!” she squealed.

“Shh, Ari,” her mother whispered. She covered the girl up with a scarf. “Ma bella.”

The woman trudged on for hours, her boots full of snow and her hair frozen to her neck. Her arms shook hopelessly, though she fought to keep them still for the sake of her baby. Her lullabies turned to crystal as they parted from her lips. The forest finally became dark. She would meet the contact soon, as long as she had been going in the right direction. She hoped, prayed, needed to be.

The woman stopped to catch her breath. She was by no means frail, but she hadn’t eaten for days, and she hardly slept. She needed to get as far away from the city as possible. Her contact was certain that this point would be safe enough. Just keep in front of the jagged peak, she had said. And so the mother kept the mountains in her eyes.

Soon, she came upon a tree with some kind of orange-and-white peace symbol painted upon it. It was close enough to the symbol her contact had described. She sat in the snow and pulled the scarf from her child’s face. “My beautiful girl,” she cooed, brushing her cheeks. “You are the love of my life. I am so, so sorry I let this happen to you.”

The little girl was none the wiser to her mother’s pain. She merely looked up at the snowy mountains in sight and wondered at them. She reached out and tried to grasp them more times than her mother could count. The girl giggled despite her numerous failures, merely stretching farther and farther each time. They seemed only a few inches away to her. Why stop when they were so close?

Her mother began to doze off. Snow started to gather on her shoulders. Suddenly, she jerked awake at the sound of footsteps a few meters away. Warily, she rose to her feet, her daughter tightly wrapped in her arms.

A cloaked figure stepped out from behind the marked tree. “Maria?”

“Yes,” the mother said breathlessly. Her heart ached. “And you are…”

“Angela,” the woman replied, taking her hood down. Her wide blue eyes filled with sadness at the sight in front of her. “I am sorry it has come to this. I wish I could help you more.”

Maria smiled heavily as tears filled her eyes. “Believe me, darling, you are helping me more than you know. Having my sweet girl finally be safe again is something I could never repay you for.”

“Do you need a moment?”

Maria wiped her eyes. She shook her head quickly, sniffling. “It will only hurt worse. Please, take care of her.” She moved toward Angela and gave her daughter away.

“I will. I promise,” the doctor said. She looked down at the child. “I may need to replace parts of her as she grows, as I am not sure how her body will react to the serums they injected. I was able to research a good deal of what they used to test these children, but…” she lost her words as Maria seemed to choke back her sobs.

“Please, just… do what you must to keep her safe. And tell her I loved her more than anything in my life.”

“She will know,” Angela nodded. “I will make sure of it.”

Maria reached into her pocket and drew out a small necklace with a clear crystal pendant attached to it. Silver detailing wound itself around the pendant in spirals. “This was a gift from her father to me.”

Angela took the necklace. “She will have this with her always.”

“Thank you.” Maria covered her mouth as she cried. “Thank you so much.”

“Before I go… what is her name?”

“Artemis. Her name is Artemis.”

* * *

Artemis rested her head against the hotel room wall, twisting a strand of dark brown hair between her fingers. The lights flickered above. She followed cracks in the wall all the way up to the broken ceiling fan. Her stomach grumbled greedily at the smells wafting in from outside. Bars and clubs lined the streets with twenty-four-hour taco shops and trucks squished wherever there was room. She wondered if McCree really was as good at sniffing out the best tacos as he said he was. She hadn’t eaten all day--their mark didn’t show up when he was supposed to, so they were stuck in the hotel room until nightfall. Soldier: 76 sent a message to them telling them he had gotten spooked.

The door to the room squeaked open. McCree and Zenyatta filed in with a bag of food each. McCree shut the door and locked it, swung a chair around, and plopped down near the edge of the bed Artemis was sitting on.

“Zen, you don’t even eat,” Artemis said curiously. “Why so much food?”

McCree unwrapped a burrito. “I’m a growin’ boy, Ari.” He stuffed the thing in his mouth and tore a chunk off like a rabid dog.

“None for me, then?” she joked.

Zenyatta offered his bag. “I suggested we stop after three food trucks, but he would not listen to reason.”

Artemis laughed. “Grazi.” She climbed over to the edge of the bed and took the bag of food from the omnic monk. She dug around until she found a stack of tacos wrapped in aluminum foil. She dumped the napkins out onto the bed and began eating. The room fell silent as the two ate like their lives depended on it.

As they were finishing up, Zenyatta floated over to the pair and laid his hand down in between them. “A call is incoming,” he stated. A holographic photo of Soldier appeared in the air from a black chip in the palm of the omnic’s hand.

“Can you read me?” the commander asked gruffly.

“Yeah, boss,” McCree replied as he sucked taco sauce from his fingers. “What’s up?”

“The Shimadas have found another of Talon’s hiding spots in Dorado. You’re to meet them tomorrow by the fountain in the town square, first thing in the morning.”

“What about these arms dealers? We just lettin’ ‘em loose?” McCree asked suspiciously.

“For now. Going after Talon is our main priority until we can get the terms of our operation renegotiated.”

McCree snorted.

“I heard that.”

“Yes, sir,” the cowboy muttered. “We’ll be there tomorrow mornin’.”

“Good. Artemis, how are you holding up?”

Artemis sat forward. “I’m fine, thanks.”

“Alright. I want a report after you rendezvous tomorrow.”

“Mhm,” McCree mumbled and pressed his finger into the chip. The portrait of Soldier disappeared from the air.

“You sound tense,” Zenyatta remarked. “Is there something the matter?”

McCree pulled a cigar out of his shirt pocket and stood from his chair in a huff. “Ain’t nothin’ to worry about. I’ll be back.” He grabbed the keys to the room and left.

Zenyatta looked down at the bag of half-full Mexican food, then up at Artemis. “Do you think he is upset because he was unable to finish his meal?”

Artemis chuckled. The monk’s lights glimmered playfully. “I’ll go see what’s up with him. You can shut the window so the noises don’t disturb you,” she said, rubbing Zenyatta’s shoulder. “I know you don’t care if it’s stuffy in here.”

“My thanks,” the monk said, dipping his head.

Artemis threw on her gray hoodie and zipped it up to her neck to cover the bulletproof vest Soldier: 76 had made her wear. He had been very adamant about keeping her safe on her first mission as an Overwatch agent.

She descended the narrow, damp stairwell that led into the hotel lobby. The man behind the desk sat with his head resting on his arm, dozing slightly. He was snoring very softly.

The Dorado nightlife hit Artemis like a train. Lights were flashing outside of restaurants and clubs, twentysomethings were yelling and smashing beer bottles on the ground. There seemed to be twice as many people in the street as there were the last time she looked out the window. She felt sick at the smell of more tacos and burritos. McCree had overestimated the amount of food she could eat.

“Now, where did you go…” she wondered. Artemis raised her nose to the air. Beer… vomit… peppers… cigar smoke. She began walking down the street, taking in every breath through her nose and trying to figure out whether the scent was getting stronger. It seemed to be, so she headed north toward the town square in search of a large man in a cowboy hat. Shouldn’t be too hard.

She stuck to the edge of the road as people passed, laughing, yelling, and drinking the night away. She could only understand what bits of Italian the Spanish language shared, which was less than she hoped when she learned she was assigned to this mission. McCree had done all of the talking since they arrived. It was amazing to her how suave he was, even in Spanish.

“Venga… prometo que no es así!” she heard a boy pleading to a girl across the street. She laughed to herself. She wondered when the streets would begin to empty. Her watch read ten minutes to midnight; she couldn’t imagine the noise would die down for at least another two hours. And it was only Thursday.

Up ahead, Artemis spotted a large brown hat floating above all the other heads in the crowd. A puff of smoke clouded around the streetlamp above it. She quickened her pace as the hat began to move farther down the street, disappearing behind a sign for a butcher’s shop. She picked it up to a jog, her hood bouncing off of her head, and darted down the alley behind the sign. “Jesse?” she called. “You down here?” No response. Pouting, she kicked a loose chunk of asphalt against the brick wall beside her.

Artemis turned to head out of the alley as some drunk boys stumbled in.

“Hey, bonita. Tiene algún cambio de repuesto?” one asked, his words so slurred that had Artemis even known the language, she wouldn’t have been able to understand him.

“Mangiare i miei pantaloncini,” she spat as she brushed past them.

“Ah?” they asked with their faces screwed up. 

She threw her hands in the air. “Pendejo!”

The boys waved her off and continued down the alley. She shook her head and laughed to herself, turning back on the main road. Luckily, she saw McCree heading her way. She waved lightly, and he nodded his head in return.

“Thought those kids were gonna give you some trouble,” he said. “I was worried when I couldn’t tell you were followin’ me anymore.”

Artemis rolled her eyes amusingly. “Nah, they were just passing by,” she shrugged. She looked up at the man in front of her and noticed dark circles under his eyes and lines on his face. McCree certainly wasn’t young anymore, but she had never noticed him looking so defeated. “Is everything okay?”

He began walking and motioned for her to join him. “Jack’s been a real pain in my kiester lately. Not quite sure what he’s gettin’ at with all this movin’ around. Now, I known him for a long time, but this kinda shufflin’ and indecision ain’t like him.”

Artemis hadn’t been with Overwatch even a year, but she had noticed the commander being shiftier lately. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Maybe he’s getting some pressure from up top?”

McCree shrugged. “Maybe.” He didn’t look convinced. He picked up his hat and smoothed his hair back. “We’ve got to get some more flexibility. We can operate legally now, but… all these damn restrictions and ‘focus points’. The cartels draggin’ these kids off the streets are worse than Talon, if you ask me.”

Artemis nodded. “Yeah.” She watched a group of teenagers skateboarding down the street. She wondered why Soldier would want to protect Overwatch more than the innocent lives it was put in place to save in the first place.

“We do what the boss says, though,” McCree said. “He generally knows what he’s doin’.” He pushed open the door to their hotel lobby and it slammed heavily behind them, locking out the excitement of the night and leaving them in silence. “Anyway, it ain’t nothin’ for you to be all worried about, kid.” He ruffled the hair on top of Artemis’s head.

She laughed, rolling her eyes. “I could kick your ass.”

McCree held the stairwell door open for her. “Honey, if I didn’t know that by now, you’d have permission to show me.”

The two laughed and fell into silence on the ascent to their floor. The remainder of the night was quiet; Zenyatta retired to the corner of the room for meditation while Artemis climbed into bed and McCree rested his head on a pile of extra sheets on the floor. He had insisted Artemis take the bed for however long they were there, though she saw how sleeping on the floor bothered his back. He was too stubborn and gentlemanly to accept her offer to switch.

Artemis lay awake for most of the night. She didn’t sleep much; she almost never felt tired. The few hours she did get every night were typically intermittent and full of disturbed dreams. Instead, she meditated with her hands folded over her stomach and listened to the sound of Zenyatta’s hard drives whirring gently. Around three in the morning, she dozed off.

“Rise ‘n’ shine,” McCree said as he tossed a balled-up sweatshirt at Artemis. She plucked it from the air without opening her eyes. The woman sat up, rubbing her puffy freckled face as the morning light trickled into her sight. She pulled the sweatshirt on over her head and squinted at McCree, who stood in the corner of the room stuffing his belongings into a backpack.

“Are we leaving already?” Artemis asked. She checked her watch. “It’s not even seven yet.”

McCree shrugged. “Genji contacted us this morning, said he and his brother wanted to hit the road real early.” With a grunt, he zipped up the bulging bag and threw it over his shoulder. “Let’s get goin’, missy.”

Artemis pursed her lips. It was unlike her to sleep through something so loud as a phone call. She shook away the thought and hopped out of bed. Her things were already neatly organized in her bag, only a toothbrush still remaining in the bathroom. She wound her hair up into a knot and slung her bag on her back, tossing the toothbrush in the smallest pocket.

McCree stopped on the way out to check out, while Zenyatta began to map out a route that would attract the least attention from a map he had downloaded at the beginning of the trip. The sun had just barely peeked into the sky, sending oranges and pinks across the clouds. Only the three were awake, it seemed. The whole city was destined to be at a hush until lunchtime as hangovers plagued its inhabitants.

Zenyatta led the way as the trio silently marched through the Dorado alleyways. Artemis wondered who thought a floating omnic monk would stand as low-profile in a city run by thugs looking for robots to kill, but nevertheless, his presence was always welcome. He had helped her train as soon as she landed herself a position as one of Overwatch’s newest agents. And with Zenyatta came Genji, ready and willing to act as her personal liaison to the world of Overwatch. Tracer had latched on relatively quickly in addition, and together, the four had woven a wonderful, bubbly net for Artemis to fall back on.

However, Artemis kept mostly to herself. She had never had the luxury of close friendships as a child, since her and her father had lived a rather nomadic lifestyle. The concept was still foreign to her.

“Oh, come on, love! What d’you mean you’ve never had a sleepover?” Tracer had said to her once, laughing in disbelief.

Artemis had merely raised an eyebrow.

“Y’know, grab some crisps and a bowl of brownie batter and stay up until three in the morning chatting about crushes and things?”

She shrugged.

Tracer’s face fell. “Goodness, Ari, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Artemis never fell for Tracer’s attempts to get her to participate in one of these “sleepovers”. When she thought about it, she wasn’t quite sure why she loathed the idea of spending nights with friends. It wasn’t like she had anything else planned--all she did was sit in her room alone.

Before she knew it, they spotted two boys up ahead, sitting on the edge of the fountain. Genji could be seen with a face mask on, while his eyes were uncovered and his green hair was spiked up in all directions. A baggy sweatshirt and jeans covered up his omnic body. When he spotted them, she saw a smile tug at the edges of his eyes and his hand raised up in a vague wave. He elbowed the man next to him. Artemis thought this quite rude until she realized it was his brother.

Her heart skipped a beat as Hanzo looked up at the group, eyes sharp as always. He sat forward, back hunched, with his elbows on his thighs and his hands clasped loosely together. He donned all black, a fitted cargo jacket with a wide collar over one of the sleeveless shirts he trained in. The most shocking difference--and the one that made Artemis’s throat seem to close up--was the undercut style he wore his hair in. The loss of the tufts of gray on the sides of his head made him seem ten years younger. He had trimmed his beard as well. Artemis had to rip her eyes away from him once he stood, her face flooding with heat.

Luckily, Genji pulled her into a hug so she could hide her face for a moment. “It is good to see you again! How was your first mission on your own?” He held her at arm’s length, hands on her shoulders, beaming.

Artemis laughed nervously, waving Genji away. “You make me sound like a little kid. Besides, it wasn’t even a real mission. We just sat in a hotel room and ate bad food.”

“That’d be most of ‘em,” McCree chuckled. “Anywho, where to next? Jack said y’all got us some intel on a Talon base around here?”

Genji nodded. “About ten miles south of the city is somewhere they call La Cueva, which is supposedly a place where drugs and weapons are frequently held.”

The cowboy raised an eyebrow, arms crossed. “So are most other buildings on the shady side uh town. What makes ya think this one’s Talon?”

Hanzo held his phone out to the group. A pink skull was spray-painted onto the side of a shabby wooden house. “We scouted it yesterday. This is Sombra’s tag.”

“Who’s that?” Artemis asked.

“A notorious hacker that has been increasingly affiliated with Talon over the past few months,” Genji replied. Hanzo looked over his shoulder and jerked his head in that direction.

“She’s been working with Los Muertos. Whether the base is Talon or this gang is just as well if we bring it down.”

“Well, let’s get goin’. Justice ain’t gonna dispense itself.” McCree headed the group as they began their journey to La Cueva. Artemis fell into step near the back, and Hanzo trailed behind her. She chatted with Genji along the way, watching as people began trickling out into the streets, smelling breakfasts being made in restaurants around town. She lost herself in the excitement of invading a Talon base, though another idea contested for her attention: the thought of Hanzo’s eyes on her back made her cheeks turn red.


End file.
